


Doll

by Fanficologist



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Depression, Fridge Horror, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:55:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21858664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanficologist/pseuds/Fanficologist
Summary: Madison Clements was a perfectly normal girl. She loved dolls, as any normal girl would.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	Doll

Madison Clements was a perfectly normal girl. She loved dolls, as any normal girl would. Her entire room was decorated with countless dolls of various sizes, from cartoonish bobblehead figures to 1/12 scales dolls with hand-sewn clothes and tiny accessories, complete with a huge three-story dollhouse that she received as a Christmas gift. Madison never went anywhere without one or two of her dolls, even going so far as to sneaking some of them into her schoolbag to play with during breaks. Her friends would gush at her dolls, talking about how beautiful they were, how expensive they must have been, and if they could play together. Madison made lots of friends, all thanks to her dolls.

As she moved up to primary school, however, she discovered that people were never as nice to her as her dolls. Some of her old classmates went to the same school. They made fun of her height, calling her friends ugly and sometimes would steal and hide them away. Weren't they friends once too? Why couldn't they be like her dolls? They never hurt her, and would always be by her side. They would never point at her back and say mean things about her. They would never trip her in the hallway and laugh obnoxiously, or draw ugly shapes and hurtful words on her table. But she wouldn't cry. They were never really her real friends. She only needed her dolls.

The boys were much worse though. They made fun of her for bringing her dolls everywhere, for being such a baby. Once they stole one of them from her bag and hanged her by the neck to the ceiling fan. She was so angry that she wanted to cry, and her friends couldn't do anything to help. She asked them politely, as her mother had taught her. They laughed. Someone turned on the fan. She could see horrified expressions on her friend's face. People were just standing there and doing nothing.

Something snapped.

Her friend flew at her face and landed on her hands. Her head was missing.

Something snapped.

It wasn't fair. Their necks were much more sturdy than her friend's.

\---***---

There were lots of yellings downstair. She decided that night that she didn't like it when her parents started yellings. She couldn't play with her dolls when it was so noisy. Why couldn't they be more like her dolls? They always get along with each other, so they were always happy. Didn't her mom and dad want to always be happy?

'I'm sorry honey. I shouldn't yell at you.'

'I'm sorry too. Let's make up.'

And then they hugged and kissed. There, wouldn't it be better this way? She sat her dolls in the master bedroom of the dollhouse and turned to Anne.

She was her fifth birthday present from her dad, an Earth Aleph imported doll with many joints to allow free range of movement, as well as multiple expressions that she could alternate between. She couldn't say the name on the box properly, so she just called her friend Anne. Her dad said that there was even a whole series for Anne with many clothing sets, though he couldn't find them where he bought the doll. She didn't mind, really. Anne was perfect as it was. She was her best friend in the world, even among her beloved doll collection. But now she was injured. Damaged. Broken.

'The doll was a limited series.' Her father sighed sadly. 'They didn't manufacture replacement parts and there aren't any shops we could go to have it repaired. I'm sorry honey.'

She wasn't deterred though. If no one wanted to help her friend, she would just have to do it herself. She carefully applied the superglue she took from the garage and wrapped a strip cut from a bandage roll around Anne's neck. Anne wouldn't be able to move her head for a while, but it was necessary to help her heal properly. Anne was easier to hurt than her body, but nothing could ever kill her. Dolls were so much better than the human body.

She tugged Anne in her bedroom and went to bed herself. Things were all going to be fine so long as she had her dolls.

\---***---

It wasn't long after that her family moved out, to a city called Brockton Bay. It was a coastal city, with a huge bay and vast area of nothing but warehouses and docks. She could see lots of boats of various sizes floating in the bay. Unmoving, like fake goods displayed behind glass cabinets. She had several wooden shelves for her dolls in the trucks trailing behind their car. Dad even hired people to pack all her friends in neat boxes with styrofoam beans so that they would have a smooth ride.

Unpacking was tiring though. She could remember perfectly where each of her dolls would rest in her old room, but this new one, while larger, was of a completely different size. It took her a whole afternoon to arrange everything in the room but it finally felt close to her old one. Warm, cozy, a place she could play with her friends.

But there was still something wrong.

She had heard that it was normal for people to lose stuff when moving their house, but was it normal that new things popped up when you were unpacking? There was this dirty doll that looked like it was sewn together from old clothes and rags and it reeked of some strange smell that she couldn't put her finger on. When she asked her father, he turned pale and asked her not to tell anyone about it. Did he know about it or did it belong to him?

Was it one of those creepy cursed dolls that she had seen in movies? The kind that holds evil spirits and would bring misfortune upon their owners? If that was true, she wouldn't be able to get rid of it no matter what she tried. There were days that she couldn't find it anywhere, and days that it appeared in the living room late at night. Sometimes her father would hold and talk to it like how she often talked to her friends. Sometimes it was sitting on the couch and when she came in, it would turn its head to her and its mouth would split into an ugly smile. Father assured that there was nothing to worry about, so long as she kept the secret between them. He promised to buy her lots of dolls. Madison was scared.

\---***---

Her mother found out about the doll. There was lots of shouting. There was lots of crying and begging. She hoped it wasn't the sound of her favorite cup breaking. She locked her room and played with her dolls, trying to drown out the sounds. Things were all going to be fine so long as she had her dolls.

The creepy doll kept appearing afterward, and Madison knew that it had gotten into her room somehow. Her dollhouse was different. The paint on the wall was darker, like a house during a blackout. Sometimes it would sit together with dad doll in the living room, and mom doll was nowhere to be found. Sometimes dad doll went missing, and mom doll was sitting in the kitchen room, with lots of tiny plastic bottles. She tried getting rid of the foreign objects, but they would always come back. Anne was sitting in her bedroom with a sad expression. She didn't want Anne to be sad. She was her best friend.

Madison carefully removed Anne's head and replace it with one with a happy, smiling expression. The wound on her neck hadn't healed yet.

\---***---

It was a little sad that her old friends couldn't come to visit her anymore. Weirdly enough, they were always busy with homework when she called. She knew studying was important, but when did hey become such busy bees? Their voices were always stuttering; maybe they didn't have enough sleep?

One good thing about moving was that she got to make a lot of new friends. New school, new teachers, new classmates. It was so exciting that she was practically vibrating while waiting for the teacher to introduce her. Full of confidence with Anne hiding in her bag, she spoke up in front of her new classmates. Madison smiled brightly all the while, telling so many stories of her and her friends that the teacher had to gently tap her shoulder for her to stop.

When break came, her table was swarmed. Her classmates were asking so many questions that she couldn't even keep track. It was honestly a little scary, but in the end, she was truly happy. She even made new friends. Her name was Emma Barnes and she was very pretty, maybe even prettier than some of her dolls if she had to admit. She was a head taller than Madison, with a curvy figure like a Barbie doll and silky long red hair. Emma introduced her to Sophia Hess. The girl was not as pretty, but she looked very strong and confident. She thought Sophia was only polite to her because she was Emma's friend.

Emma also had a doll of her own which she brought to class every day too. Madison was so glad someone finally shared her love for dolls. But she wouldn't show Anne to Emma. Never. Humen was never honest like dolls. They always lie. She wouldn't let anyone hurt Anne ever again.

Though Madison had to admit she could understand why Emma didn't care about her doll as much as her. It was so ugly, almost as much as the creepy doll at home. Why would people make a doll with such long and stick-like arms and legs?

\---***---

Madison was happy. She had just gone to a movie with Emma. She had one extra since Sophia was caught up on some private business and couldn't come and Emma didn't want to go alone. She was such a wonderful friend. The movie wasn't that good, but it was fun screaming and laughing along with Emma. There was also some scene with very pretty dolls though, so all in all she had fun. Too bad the dolls got all cut up in the end. She would never treat her precious doll like that.

As she held Anne in her arms and waited for her father to pick her up, she saw it. The creepy doll was there, leaning against a light pole. Not a single person took a second glance at it even as they were clearly avoiding the thing. It glanced at her, its mouth split into a mocking smirk and its little arm waved. Her ears rang and the smell of alcohol filled her nose. A bald man in jacket and jeans picked the doll up and walked into a dark alleyway.

Madison glanced at her watch. Her father would arrive in about fifteen minutes.

While she didn't really like Sophia, the girl actually gave lots of good advice. She hadn't wanted to do it since this was supposed to be an outing with her friend, but luckily Anne remembered to take the old swiss knife she found in the attic. She waited for the man to walk out with a cigarette in his mouth and a satisfied smirk on his lip and went in.

Who would put all these sticky stuff in a doll? It just kept spilling out onto the ground. So disgusting.

\---***---

She stood in her bathroom, staring at her face in the mirror with a wide smile. She put her hand in the right pocket of her skirt and pulled out three packages. It was something that fell out of the creepy doll. Why did she keep them again? They were three blue square package with transparent back and what looked like colorless balloons inside each. She never liked balloons, really. She once got a doll made of balloons at an amusement park, but it popped so easily. She threw them into the toilet and flushed them away. She was still smiling, and Anne was smiling with her too. They were both so happy. The creepy doll would never bother her family again.

\---***---

Madison Clements was a perfectly normal girl. She loved dolls, as any normal girl would. Her entire room was decorated with countless dolls of various sizes, from cartoonish bobblehead figures to 1/12 scales dolls with hand-sewn clothes and tiny accessories, complete with a huge three-story dollhouse that she received as a Christmas gift. Madison never went anywhere without one or two of her dolls, even going so far as to sneaking some of them into her schoolbag to play with during breaks. Her friends would gush at her dolls, talking about how beautiful they were, how expensive they must have been, and if they could play together.

Madison made lots of dolls, all thanks to her friends.


End file.
